Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on entertainment from the Nerd-o-sphere.  This week, Patrick and Dave continue their review of the Star Wars Disney+ miniseries The Book of Boba Fett!

• The Show:  The Book of Boba Fett Ch. 5: Return of the Mandalorian
• What’s it About:  Following the events in season two of The Mandalorian, Boba Fett had laid claim to Jabba the Hutt’s former criminal empire.  His rise to prominence is not met with open arms and Fett must navigate the Galaxy’s criminal underground in Tatooine.
• IMDB Score: 9.5/10

The Nerds’ Take on Ch.5 Return of the Mandalorian:

Dave Episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett has caused me a great deal of confusion about how best to write this review. If you listened to this week’s Episode of BWN, you would know that Episode 5 is a very polarizing one, so much so that I know Patrick has come up with two different scores for the Episode. How is that possible you might ask? Because Episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett is, in reality, either the 9^th Episode of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, or, perhaps, the first Episode of Season 3.

Last week, I speculated that this would be the Episode where we might see the return of Din Djarin. I figured he might show up at the end of the Episode to set the stage for a bigger role in Episode 6. Well, he will certainly play a big role in Episode 6 but who could have anticipated that Episode 5 would be all about Din and have virtually nothing to do with Boba Fett?

So, let’s get this out of the way immediately: Episode 5 is a fantastic Episode of The Mandalorian. Pat, PC Tunney and I all agree on this point. In this Episode, we are re-introduced to our favorite Mandalorian right off the bat. What is even better is that Din has the Dark Saber and is wielding it, albeit with some difficulty. There are key moments involving Din and what remains of his clan, complete with him being challenged for the Dark Saber and, ultimately, being exiled from the Clan for admitting he has removed his helmet. Before that happens though, Din has the Armorer melt his beskar spear into something he plans on giving Grogu. He name drops Bo Katan as well to see if she has a legitimate claim to the Darksaber. So, we can begin to check off several boxes as far as loose ends from the end of Season 2 being addressed. In any event, Din heads back to Tatooine, where he reunites with Peli Motto and asks if she can get a ship comparable to the Razor’s Crest. Instead, she helps him rebuild a N-1 starfighter and helps him mod it to the point that he can easily outrace X-Wings. Din’s testing of this new ship is one of the best parts of the Episode as he takes it over the Podrace track from Phantom Menace and into Beggar’s Canyon, where Luke Skywalker used to bullseye womp rats in the original trilogy. It is a fantastic sequence that is all about fan service, but is not overdone to the point of feeling gratuitous. It is not until the end of the Episode that we get any sort of tie-in to Boba Fett as Fennec meets up with Din and tells him that Boba would like to buy his services. In a definite nod to what Boba did for Din near the end of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Din agrees to help, but it is on the house. Before he goes to help Boba though, it is clear that he and, presumably, Fennec, will be going to see how Grogu is doing.

Make no mistake. This is a fantastic Episode and fits in perfectly with anything else Mandalorian related. The issue so many of us have is the question as to why they chose to use an Episode of The Book of Boba Fett to, basically, kickoff Season 3 of The Mandalorian rather than just, you know, wait for the actual season premiere of Season 3? For that, there is no easy answer. Patrick will complain that it absolutely buried the story they were trying to tell about Boba Fett…and he is not wrong. They spent 4 Episodes flashing back and setting the stage for this big conflict between Boba and the Pykes. Rather than just bring in Din for a cameo in Episode 5 and then use him for a much bigger role in Episode 6, they completely shifted the focus of the series away from Boba Fett and turned it squarely back on Din. Now, I am not complaining because I, for one, will never complain about more Mandalorian. But it does strongly suggest that the showrunners did not have confidence that Boba’s story would be compelling enough to stand on its own. Yes, we knew there would be an eventual tie-in to The Mandalorian…. but certainly not to this extent.

That being said though, there is no doubt Episode 6 will be highly anticipated. We are, after all, going to see Grogu! All of us are anxious to see what is going on with our favorite child. What else will we run into? You have to figure that Din will be heading to the Jedi Academy to check on his friend. Will we see more of Luke Skywalker? Will Ahsoka be there? More ominously, will Kylo Ren be at the Academy, which would lend credibility to a very unpopular theory I postulated last year after the amazing Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian.  And as cool as all that is, it underlies the problem we have now:  Does anyone remotely care about the story of Boba Fett vs The Pyke Syndicate now that Mando & Grogu are back in the mix? If you said not really, you would be right.

So, as great as Episode 5 was, I cannot give it full marks. It is a phenomenal Episode of The Mandalorian; it is a terrible Episode of The Book of Boba Fett. I won’t go full heel here though because I flat out loved the Episode too much. Now you see why Patrick gave two scores? For me, the Episode was too good to give it a subpar score, no matter how I feel it absolutely buried Boba’s story. Despite all that, it was the most enjoyable Episode of the series this far, by a wide margin and it is a huge springboard for Season 3 of The Mandalorian. When you look at it that way, it is hard to be too upset about it.

Dave’s Rating:  4.50/5.0

Patrick:  I literally just finished watching The Book of Boba Fett Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian and this is easily the best episode of the series to date.  It is also lays bare the problem with The Book of Boba Fett series.  Boba Fett’s story just isn’t that interesting.  You see, this episode has about five minutes of episode that has anything to do with the story the first four chapters have told.  Instead, we basically get the season three premiere of the successful Disney Plus series The Mandalorian.

The episode opens with the return of Din Djarin aka The Mandalorian trying to make his way in the world since leaving Grogu with Luke Skywalker.  He is still in possession of the Darksaber, however he is struggling to properly use it.  After collecting on a bounty, Din seeks out and finds the remnants of his Mandalorian sect the Covert. The episode is loaded with call backs to the series complete with appearances by characters such as The Armorer, Peli Motto, and even Captain Carson Teva.  The audience is treated to seeing Mando acquire a new ship, complete with an exhilarating little test run.  We see Mando still struggling with his personal internal conflict between the creed of his people and his affection for Grogu. This conflict comes to a head when Din admits to removing his helmet and thus being shunned by the Covert.  There is also some healthy world building as the Armorer explains the tragic history and Imperial purging of Mandalor.  There is a TON of good stuff here culminating in Fennec Shand meeting up with Din and asking for him to help Boba.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this chapter of The Book of Boba Fett, but I have to go back to the problem here. This chapter did absolutely nothing to advance Boba’s story.  You know, the story this series is supposed to be telling. It’s almost as if Jon Favreau realized halfway through his writing that Din’s story is what people want to see.  While this episode is great fun, what is Fett doing in Shenn’s absence. Hell, if we weren’t going to follow what Fett is dealing with, why not follow the other lead character in Fennec Shand? Make her work to find Din or something! Din should have been the five minute cameo at the end of the episode, not the other way around. By shifting the focus entirely to Din’s story, it devalues Boba and Fennec’s by making them an afterthought on their own show.

I am really struggling with the Book of Boba Fett right now.  I deeply disliked the first three chapters of the series, topped by my loathing of Chapter two. Chapter four brought me back a bit and had me hopeful of the story moving forward. Chapter five, while enjoyable on its own, may well have killed the series for me. To me, it’s a sign that the Favreau knows where the rubber truly hits the road and it is not in telling the Book of Boba Fett. No, no it’s in reminding Star Wars fans the Din Djarin’s next chapter is right around the corner.

Patrick’s Rating:  Episode: For the Mandalorian? 3.98/5.0;  For Boba Fett? 1.77/5.00

Splitting the difference here – 2.87

Overall Nerds’ Rating on The Book of Boba Fett – Episode 5: 3.68/5.0